EPILOGUE
There are a number of individuals who are not named in this version of the events that took place, who in their own way, greatly contributed to our success in staying out of the hands of the Germans.
They are the many men, women and children who were terrorized, beaten, and arrested in the German attempt to get information concerning our whereabouts. All without success.
Also not mentioned are two sets of brothers Henrik and Torbjom Lyssand; Alf, John and Fredrik Heggland; Edvard Lønningdal; Anna and Nils Rolvsvag; Christina Bjørnen; the family members of our helpers; who all gave unselfishly with little or no concern for their fate should they be caught. Each was willing to give of themselves in order to help the strangers, who they felt were helping them in their cause.
There very well may be others unknown to me who helped our crew and to them I sincerely apologize for my ignorance.
Pemille Evensen, Einar's Mother, was arrested by the Germans and sent to prison in Oslo where she suffered greatly at the hands of the Gestapo. Einar was more fortunate than his mother. He was wanted by the Germans but was able to avoid being captured. He spent the balance of the war hiding in the mountains and being a particularly aggressive saboteur.
Magnus Hauge, who is mentioned, was arrested and tortured for his activities in the Milorg. He was kept in prison and released when Norway was liberated.
Not mentioned is a very strange encounter I had in 1979 on the day my wife and I were to leave for Norway, to visit with some of the people who had helped our crew. As I was very restless on that particular day, I left work shortly after noon although we were not scheduled to depart until ten thirty in the evening. In order to help pass time, I went to exercise at a gymnasium. I encountered a friend in the locker room, and we discussed my pending trip. When my acquaintance heard that I was going to Norway he wanted to know why I had decided to go there. I explained some of the details re our crash there.
As we spoke a stranger appeared from the shower room, and seemed to take in every word we said. After my friend departed the stranger came over to me and said that he too had been in Norway. He also told me that he had been in the Bergen area at the time of our crash. My curiosity had peaked because the man spoke with what was obviously a German accent. When I asked him what he was doing in Norway at that time, he looked me straight in the eye, and pointing a finger in my face said, "looking for you".
He went on to explain that he had been in the German Army attached to the quartermaster corps in Bergen. His usual occupation was to buy produce and fish from the local fishermen and farmers. He was very familiar with the events when we crashed. He had been taken from his usual work to help in the search for us. He said that he had spent a miserable time for four days, combing the area before other regular troops who had been brought from the north to be staged in the Bergen area, relieved those who had augmented the local garrisons. He informed me that there had been over four thousand soldiers in the area looking for us and that the search was the main focus of all the German garrisons in the greater Bergen area for some time. He claimed that he and most of his compatriots could not help but admire the Norwegians for their intense national pride, and the fierce defiance they outwardly showed to the German occupiers of their country.
Kjell and Merete Harmens visited with us during the early part of October, 1989, and I asked Kjell to read my version of our experiences in Norway. He was very impressed with the accuracy and detail of what I had written. He did feel, however, that I should have mentioned that there were, to the best of his memory, at least 57 children were killed when a bomb fell on an air-raid shelter during the R.C.A.F. raid of Oct. 4th. 1944, on the U-boat pens in the Bergen area. This was the raid that we had watched when we were at "Little Canada".
Another item Kjell discussed was the success the Gestapo had in decimating the group that had helped us. It was a very few days [A] fter we had left Norway when the dreaded SS swept down on them, arresting many who had helped and searching for others. They, as mentioned previously, took Magnus Hauge and Pernille Evensen and mounted a very intensive search for the rest of the group who took to the mountains to avoid capture. Einar Evensen was with the group in the mountains and Kjell hid in the false wall of a room with some people who he calls his adoptive parents.
Another surprising development is the revelation by Kjell that a few days after we departed "Little Canada", the Gestapo, having in some way found out that we had been hiding there, burned it to the ground [B]. The original cabin, built by the Øvredal family, was owned by Jacob Hjelle. An exact replica of the cabin was rebuilt shortly after the war on the original spot by the Øvredal family.
The following is an extract from "The Bomber Command War Diaries" dated Oct.4th 1945. that came to light due to Kjell's visit when I was looking among my documents.
Bergen was one of several Norwegian ports now being used as the forward operating bases for the U- boats. The pens at Bergen were being enlarged, with an influx of German technicians and a large labour force. 93 Halifaxes and 47 Lancasters of 6 and 8 Groups were dispatched to attack Bergen, most of the aircraft being allocated to the pens but 14 Halifaxes and Lancasters were ordered to bomb individual U-boats known to be moored in the harbour.
12 Mosquitoes of 100 Group acted as a long- range fighter escort.
The raid appeared to be successful and only 1 Lancaster was lost. A detailed report from the city of Bergen supplies the actual results. 7 bombs hit the U-boat pens, causing little structural damage because of the thickness of the concrete roof, but the electrical-wiring system in the pens was completely put out of action. Nearby ship-repair yards were seriously damaged. 3 U-boats were damaged by the bombing but they did not sink. 3 other small ships were hit; two of them sank and the third, the German auxiliary Schwabenland, had to be put in dry dock for repair.
But, as so often in raids on targets in Occupied Countries, the bombing spread to civilian areas. The local report continues: "As regards civilian casualties and damage, the raid is still remembered with horror. Bergen suffered little damage in comparison with other occupied towns and cities in Europe but the raid of 4th October was the worst of the war for us." 60 houses were destroyed or so badly damaged that they had to be demolished; 600 people lost their homes. Civilian casualties are recorded at only 2 places but they were tragic. A school, opened only that day after a break, received a direct hit in the basement where 2 classes were sheltering; 60 children, 2 teachers and 17 air-raid workers in the same shelter were killed. Another shelter, at a nearby factory, was also hit and a further 34 people were killed and about 100 were injured there. 7 of the dead Norwegians were members of the local Resistance Movement.
The Germans admitted the deaths of 12 of their own men.
There are a number of individuals who are not named in this version of the events that took place, who in their own way, greatly contributed to our success in staying out of the hands of the Germans.
They are the many men, women and children who were terrorized, beaten, and arrested in the German attempt to get information concerning our whereabouts. All without success.
Also not mentioned are two sets of brothers Henrik and Torbjom Lyssand; Alf, John and Fredrik Heggland; Edvard Lønningdal; Anna and Nils Rolvsvag; Christina Bjørnen; the family members of our helpers; who all gave unselfishly with little or no concern for their fate should they be caught. Each was willing to give of themselves in order to help the strangers, who they felt were helping them in their cause.
There very well may be others unknown to me who helped our crew and to them I sincerely apologize for my ignorance.
Pemille Evensen, Einar's Mother, was arrested by the Germans and sent to prison in Oslo where she suffered greatly at the hands of the Gestapo. Einar was more fortunate than his mother. He was wanted by the Germans but was able to avoid being captured. He spent the balance of the war hiding in the mountains and being a particularly aggressive saboteur.
Magnus Hauge, who is mentioned, was arrested and tortured for his activities in the Milorg. He was kept in prison and released when Norway was liberated.
Not mentioned is a very strange encounter I had in 1979 on the day my wife and I were to leave for Norway, to visit with some of the people who had helped our crew. As I was very restless on that particular day, I left work shortly after noon although we were not scheduled to depart until ten thirty in the evening. In order to help pass time, I went to exercise at a gymnasium. I encountered a friend in the locker room, and we discussed my pending trip. When my acquaintance heard that I was going to Norway he wanted to know why I had decided to go there. I explained some of the details re our crash there.
As we spoke a stranger appeared from the shower room, and seemed to take in every word we said. After my friend departed the stranger came over to me and said that he too had been in Norway. He also told me that he had been in the Bergen area at the time of our crash. My curiosity had peaked because the man spoke with what was obviously a German accent. When I asked him what he was doing in Norway at that time, he looked me straight in the eye, and pointing a finger in my face said, "looking for you".
He went on to explain that he had been in the German Army attached to the quartermaster corps in Bergen. His usual occupation was to buy produce and fish from the local fishermen and farmers. He was very familiar with the events when we crashed. He had been taken from his usual work to help in the search for us. He said that he had spent a miserable time for four days, combing the area before other regular troops who had been brought from the north to be staged in the Bergen area, relieved those who had augmented the local garrisons. He informed me that there had been over four thousand soldiers in the area looking for us and that the search was the main focus of all the German garrisons in the greater Bergen area for some time. He claimed that he and most of his compatriots could not help but admire the Norwegians for their intense national pride, and the fierce defiance they outwardly showed to the German occupiers of their country.
Kjell and Merete Harmens visited with us during the early part of October, 1989, and I asked Kjell to read my version of our experiences in Norway. He was very impressed with the accuracy and detail of what I had written. He did feel, however, that I should have mentioned that there were, to the best of his memory, at least 57 children were killed when a bomb fell on an air-raid shelter during the R.C.A.F. raid of Oct. 4th. 1944, on the U-boat pens in the Bergen area. This was the raid that we had watched when we were at "Little Canada".
Another item Kjell discussed was the success the Gestapo had in decimating the group that had helped us. It was a very few days [A] fter we had left Norway when the dreaded SS swept down on them, arresting many who had helped and searching for others. They, as mentioned previously, took Magnus Hauge and Pernille Evensen and mounted a very intensive search for the rest of the group who took to the mountains to avoid capture. Einar Evensen was with the group in the mountains and Kjell hid in the false wall of a room with some people who he calls his adoptive parents.
Another surprising development is the revelation by Kjell that a few days after we departed "Little Canada", the Gestapo, having in some way found out that we had been hiding there, burned it to the ground [B]. The original cabin, built by the Øvredal family, was owned by Jacob Hjelle. An exact replica of the cabin was rebuilt shortly after the war on the original spot by the Øvredal family.
The following is an extract from "The Bomber Command War Diaries" dated Oct.4th 1945. that came to light due to Kjell's visit when I was looking among my documents.
Bergen was one of several Norwegian ports now being used as the forward operating bases for the U- boats. The pens at Bergen were being enlarged, with an influx of German technicians and a large labour force. 93 Halifaxes and 47 Lancasters of 6 and 8 Groups were dispatched to attack Bergen, most of the aircraft being allocated to the pens but 14 Halifaxes and Lancasters were ordered to bomb individual U-boats known to be moored in the harbour.
12 Mosquitoes of 100 Group acted as a long- range fighter escort.
The raid appeared to be successful and only 1 Lancaster was lost. A detailed report from the city of Bergen supplies the actual results. 7 bombs hit the U-boat pens, causing little structural damage because of the thickness of the concrete roof, but the electrical-wiring system in the pens was completely put out of action. Nearby ship-repair yards were seriously damaged. 3 U-boats were damaged by the bombing but they did not sink. 3 other small ships were hit; two of them sank and the third, the German auxiliary Schwabenland, had to be put in dry dock for repair.
But, as so often in raids on targets in Occupied Countries, the bombing spread to civilian areas. The local report continues: "As regards civilian casualties and damage, the raid is still remembered with horror. Bergen suffered little damage in comparison with other occupied towns and cities in Europe but the raid of 4th October was the worst of the war for us." 60 houses were destroyed or so badly damaged that they had to be demolished; 600 people lost their homes. Civilian casualties are recorded at only 2 places but they were tragic. A school, opened only that day after a break, received a direct hit in the basement where 2 classes were sheltering; 60 children, 2 teachers and 17 air-raid workers in the same shelter were killed. Another shelter, at a nearby factory, was also hit and a further 34 people were killed and about 100 were injured there. 7 of the dead Norwegians were members of the local Resistance Movement.
The Germans admitted the deaths of 12 of their own men.